Bones, body of Pixie, Taramatie found nearby

THE REMAINS of Pixie Lakhan and Taramatie Toolsie were found about half a kilometre apart.

This was the testimony yesterday of police draughtsman Gregory Hood in describing where the bones of Lakhan and the decomposing body of Toolsie were found.

Hood showed the court the sketches he made of forested areas at Siparia Trace, Siparia and La Brea Trace, Siparia, after they were pointed out to him by an officer he accompanied on both scenes.

Enlarged sketches of the areas were shown to the jury during his testimony.

Lakhan, 16, of Spring Trace, Siparia, was heading home from school on March 22, 2005 when she went missing.

A month later her skeletal remains were found by a carat tree near her home.

Toolsie, 40, of La Brea Trace, Siparia, was on her way to her janitorial job at Penal Government School.

She left home around 5.45 a.m. on April 16, 2005. She was never picked up by the maxi that would normally drop her to school, nor did she make it to work that day.

Her decomposing body was found covered by tyres and bags two days later.

Both women were raped and strangled, the State is alleging.

Paul Vincent, 32, of Siparia, was charged with the murders and is on trial before Justice Mark Mohammed in the San Fernando High Court.

Yesterday, Justice of the Peace Kevin King also testified.

He said he was present when Vincent gave a statement to the police, but before this was done, he spoke with Vincent in the company of Vincent’s mother, Gene Campbell.

King said Vincent told him he was fed, allowed to bathe, and slept on a mattress while in custody.

Vincent told the JP that he had no complaints and was not threatened or forced to give the statement, the court was told.

King said he asked Vincent about the cut to the right side of his forehead, a bruise to his right wrist and a bruise to the right forearm and Vincent said that he got the cut from a bottle that struck his head and the bruises when he fell off a bicycle two weeks earlier.

King said at the Siparia CID office, Vincent had no difficulty understanding what was being said to him, or reading or signing the statement he gave to the police.

Constable Mark Joseph also gave evidence yesterday that he fingerprinted Vincent and monitored him while he was at the Siparia CID, before he was charged.

He said Vincent was given lunch.

Joseph said Vincent was kept at the Siparia CID’s office because of security reasons.

“We didn’t want to put him in a cell a distance off. We kept him close to us so we could have a view of him at all times.”

Constable Chandradath Rajkumar, who worked as part of the E-999 unit in the South Western Division, testified that he went to La Brea Trace, Siparia on April 18, 2005, when he saw the body of a woman surrounded by tyres and garbage bags. Rajkumar said the right foot was missing.

He said he secured the area and waited for the arrival of other police officers.

The case is being led by State attorney Tricia Hudlin-Cooper and yesterday attorney Renuka Rambhajan also prosecuted.

Vincent is being represented by attorney Rekha Ramjit, who is being instructed by attorney Michael Rooplal.